Dragon 2 Chapter 19 (Patreon)

Kelly had planted herself at the bar top. I found myself once again tending bar in the otherwise empty lower level. She motioned to me for another drink. I shook the tequila bottle, trying to remember how full it had been when we started.

Morgana was off managing something in the club while we waited. Sabrina had sat down on a couch, and after procuring an old wooden broom handle, had been working away at it with a knife. And that left me bar tending for a very thirsty werewolf.

“I mean, I know that Chad was an ass, but I kind of miss him.”

“Okay. That is the official signal that you’ve had far too much.” I opened up another bottle, but I put it on the shelf.

She rolled her eyes and played with her once again empty glass. “I’m not that far gone. Werewolf metabolism and all. But evil voodoo and killing other alphas aside, he was good for the pack.”

“Things have gotten that bad?” Leaning over the bar to listen as I considered if I should let her have more. I eyed her while she gave me her sweetest smile. I grunted, relenting.

Seeing my decision, she held her glass back up with a smile. “We can’t even hold a practice right now. Every time they line up for a play, at least one of them ends up shifting and trying to tear another apart. Then the whole team shifts, and a brawl breaks out. It always end with another one limping away pretending he’s the victor and the new alpha.”

“Why isn’t he the new alpha?” I asked, pouring the drink and idly wondering how much this bottle cost. At some point, I wondered if Morgana would take it out of my cut.

“Because he didn’t really win. The other wolf didn’t really submit. Being alpha is more than just coming out on top of a dog pile. It is about being the fucking boss.” She punctuated her statement by taking a lime from behind the counter and doing another shot. “I could whip their butts into shape, but they need a real alpha. They’re all too close to each others’ power, and none are strong enough.”

“Well, I still think you’d make a great alpha.” I refilled her shot glass. This time, thank heavens, she sipped it.

“Not how it works. The pack magic wouldn’t even accept me if I tried.”

This wasn’t the first time we’d had this conversation; I knew her mind was set. But I still thought she should at least try.

Morgana came back around, still on the phone and looked at me with a question as she covered the phone. “Blonde or brunette?” She asked.

I blinked, not sure what she meant. Then I remembered she was officially planning my bachelor party. Rolling my eyes, I arched my brow as I said, “Maybe I like silver hair.”

Her cheeks blushed purple for the first time ever. But she recovered quickly, giving me a thumbs up. “Works.” Then she sauntered off, her swords slapping her leather clad ass, making it ripple in ways that made my imagination swirl.

Kelly snorted into her drink, breaking my attention. I turned to her as she laughed harder. “Holy shit. You play a dangerous game.”

“It’s our thing. There’s nothing really there.” I told her, but I didn’t hear the conviction in my own voice I’d expected. “Besides. I never knew drow vampires blushed purple. That was a new one.”

“Uh, huh. That girl would suck you dry if you gave her the opportunity.” Kelly paused and looked into her drink with a frown. “I meant that she’d suck your cock dry. Not the whole vampire thing. Although maybe that too. But not dead.” She caught herself in her ramble.

“Sure she would.” I humored Kelly. “She’s trying to plan a bachelor party for me.”

Kelly looked up from her drink. “You’re getting married?!” Her mouth hung open, and she even looked a little angry. “Holy crap, how did I not know this?”

“A siren’s wedding.” I clarified. “It isn’t that big of a deal, though. Her family is going to do something more formal later, but she doesn’t want to wait. Either way, it isn’t the end of the line for me, given what I am.” My eyes shifted over to Sabrina, but she was still fully engrossed in whatever she’d been working on.

“That makes perfect sense. Are you still not willing to add a few dozen wolves to your harem?” She said it lightheartedly, but there was just a touch of seriousness in her tone. I knew that Kelly was interested in me, but it just wasn’t going to work with how the packs worked.

I changed the subject rather than have the same discussion yet again.

“Hey Sabrina, what are you working on?” I pretended to be more curious about the broken broom handle she was whittling away at than I actually was.

It took her a full two seconds to register that I’d been talking to her before she looked up. “A blasting rod. It’s just a simple tool for wizards to channel mana through and generate a spell. Sturdier than a wand. We can’t all be sorcerers throwing around the elements like it’s breathing.”

Kelly laughed. “Hehe. You said breeding.”

I put my head in my palm. “Kelly, she said, breathing. I think I do need to cut you off.”

She swiftly turned back, pleading, as she clutched her glass. “I was just kidding.”

“Sure you were.”

She held the pathetic pose a few more moments before she could see I wasn’t going to budge. She dropped it, sighing. “Well, if you are going to be like that, then I’ll just go for the throat. I can’t believe you are marrying Jadelyn already.”

I did my best to keep my face neutral as she poked a sensitive topic. “It was her decision to push it forward, and I’m respecting her wishes. But I’m in this.”

“That makes it so much better.” Kelly said sarcastically. “So, did she know what you were before or after she proposed?” The way she said it was laced with an unsaid accusation.

“Enough, Kelly.” I warned, and wrenched the glass out of her hand.

“What? I only said what everyone else would be thinking.” She didn’t let up, leaning forward into the bar.

“You should learn to keep some thoughts to yourself.” I growled, leaning forward myself, putting my face right in front of hers, both with our own scowl.

Morgana came back just at that moment, her face set. Knowing those pointy blue ears of hers, she’d heard everything Kelly said. She looked between the two of us, holding our eyes before she finally spoke. “Since you seem to be intent on interpreting my relationship with Zach.” She gave Kelly a vicious smile. “Then I’ll return the favor.”

Turning on her heels, Morgana said plainly. “Zach, Kelly is jealous of Jadelyn.”

“No. I’m not.” Kelly emphasized, turning and almost throwing herself at Morgana before thinking better of taking on the drow vampire.

Morgana put her phone down on the bar. “Keep it up. You certainly sound like someone who isn’t invested.” Her voice filled with sarcasm. She stared Kelly down, nearly challenging her.

“Cut it out. I don’t need two catty girls in my life, now or ever. It’s a bad look on both of you.”

Kelly immediately jumped in. “She started it!”

Morgana eyed her before calmly responding with more tact. “He knows that’s a lie. You were sitting here spouting off before I came down. Bitter bitch.”

“See. This is what she’s like when you aren’t around. Might as well be a tame puppy around you.” Kelly threw her hands in the air.

As Morgana’s phone vibrated again on the bar, I snatched it and moved around the bar before giving them one last look. “Sort it out. I don’t want to listen to the two of you bickering in the car tonight.”

I stepped away from the bar before the two of them imploded. “This is Zach with Silverwing Mercenaries.” She rarely used her last name, but her mercenary company had it.

A bored sounding woman on the other end of the phone perked up. “Oh, I thought I had called Morgana.”

“You did. This is her phone. She is…” I looked at Kelly and her, who were still facing off, on the verge of a shouting match. Neither woman was close to backing down. “… indisposed at the moment. I can take whatever it is. I assume this is a call about a troll?”

“Yes, it is. Do you have something to write down an address?”

“One moment.” I juggled Morgana’s phone onto my shoulder and pulled out my phone, ready to type with both thumbs. “Hit me.”

She rattled off an address, and I repeated it back to make sure it was correct before sending it to Morgana. Her phone blipped in my ear in response.

“Thank you very much. Do you work for the council?” I asked, wondering if I should save her number.

“Yes, I handle messages for them. Technically, I work for Detective Fox.”

“Oh.” I hissed in sympathy. “Sorry about that.”

She giggled. “It’s not that bad. If you aren’t dating his daughter, he’s a very nice man, Mr. Zach Pendragon.” I wasn’t completely surprised she knew who I was, but it still caught me for a moment.

“Should I be worried? Sounds like you might be in the know.”

She went quiet on the other end of the line for a moment. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Zach. I’ve already heard so much about you.” She hung up.

I wondered what had led to her pause. Had someone else had been in the room?

But I already knew that the detective had done some sort of detailed investigation on me. Maybe she had been involved in that. Beyond not wanting to spread what I was and deal with the complications, I really didn’t have much to hide.

Kelly and Morgana’s voices were picking up around the corner, and I stepped around, ready to break up the standoff. I really wasn’t used to Morgana acting this way, but I figured Kelly’s werewolf nature might be invoking some sort of territory competition or trying to set up some sort of pecking order.

“You two. Time’s up. Put whatever this is aside. We have a troll to catch.” I tossed Morgana back her phone. She snatched it out of the air without even breaking eye contact with Kelly.

“We were just finishing.” Morgana pulled back a strand of silver hair that escaped her ponytail and reset it.

Kelly looked awkward as she stepped away from Morgana and spoke to me. “You’d make a really good alpha boss when you need to be. We’re done.”

“Good. Morgana, I already texted you the address. Sabrina? Do you have the ley line map for us again?”

Our phones all went down on the bar with the new address, comparing it to Sabrina’s map. “I don’t know anything there.” Kelly said.

Morgana grunted and pointed to a neighborhood that was half an hour from the troll attack, next to Fairmount Park. “It’s a gated community and exclusively elves.”

Of course, the snooty elves lived in a gated community.

“There’s something else.” Sabrina added. “The convention center is on the same lay line.”

I stepped back from the bar, considering the two options. Attacking the elves would be like attacking a fortified bunker. I had full confidence that an all elf gated community was like a giant turtle shell of enchantments. And each and every one of them had magic of their own.

It was far too big compared to what they had targeted so far. It was too big of a leap.

As for the convention center, there had already been one troll there before, so maybe it had some sort of benefit. But so far, the magi hadn’t been their primary target. Changing it up so suddenly didn’t make sense.

The convention would still be running the next morning, but it would be reduced, as many would be leaving town in the morning. What good did it do them to attack it tonight?

“I’m not sure it is either of those. I just can’t get what we know so far to mesh with either of those options. There has to be another target.”

“Then we’ll just have to go there and wait to see what we find.” Morgana dangled a set of keys from her hand. “Because whether we like it or not, there is a troll we need to take care of.”

“Dibs on the biggest tranq gun you guys have.” Kelly bounded off the barstool towards the garage.

I walked out with Morgana, grabbing the pistol I favored. “Let’s drop Kelly off and then do a few circles around the elven community. Even if I don’t think that’s the target, maybe their information is flawed. They could think they are hitting a single elven household.” I was grasping at straws, and I knew it.

“Can do.” Morgana grabbed a bandoleer of syringes. Apparently, after losing her favorite dart rifle, she had opted for a more personal approach. She was pretty good at close combat. Her blades slapped against her leather-clad thighs in a reminder of just how dangerous she could be.

Kelly was already running over to the van with a massive dart gun and darts half the size of my forearm. It was complete overkill. T’s special tranquilizer could knock out an elephant with just a small dose.

Rolling her eyes at the werewolf’s antics, Morgana strutted out to the van with Sabrina on her heels.

Morgana slid behind the driver's seat of the van as Sabrina hesitated, taking a moment to summon up some courage before she got into the van. Clutching the carved broom handle with white knuckles, she buckled into the van and chanted wards onto the seat belt.

She hadn’t ridden with Morgana yet. My only guess was that Kelly had scared her before we came down from sparring.

I just got in the passenger seat and clicked my seatbelt, trying to find my happy place and center my breathing. Of course, Morgana’s driving made that near impossible as she gunned it into reverse and then peeled out of the garage.

If I didn’t know better, she was driving more aggressively than before. It only took cracking open my eyes and seeing her watch Kelly in the rearview mirror to understand why.

Kelly was braced against the side of the car, clinging onto the oh-shit handle with her leg wedged under my seat. She squealed as Morgana took yet another tight turn, causing a small smirk to spread on Morgana’s face.

Oh yeah, Morgana was enjoying this.

Sabrina was chanting additional wards on her seatbelt and clinging tightly to her new tool.

Morgana made a turn, hitting the location of the ley line and continued following it. Unfortunately, that meant cutting diagonally across the city blocks, meaning she was zigzagging down the streets to keep with the ley line as best as she could.

“Keep your eyes open, Zach. We need to figure out the next target.” Morgana reminded me.

Damnit. Shifting my eyes, I did my best to look down alleys and at pedestrians for signs of magic use.

“Calm down Morgana. How do you expect me to see anything when you are going so fast?” I grumbled, partially angry seeing Sabrina behind me looking like she was giving herself last rites.

Morgana pouted, but slowed down just enough so that I wasn’t getting whiplash trying to scan everything.

When we got to the address of the first troll, Kelly didn’t even wait for Morgana to come to a complete stop before tumbling out of the car with her large tranquilizer rifle. She tossed us a salute as she dashed into the alley. Not long after her exit, we heard something thudding.

“Look at her. She finally has some work ethic. Pretty snappy exit.” Morgana commented, as Sabrina pulled the door closed behind Kelly.

“Yeah. I’m sure that’s why she got out in such a hurry.” I humored Morgana.

In response, Morgana floored it once again, and I found myself pressed into the seat as I tried to scan the streets. Unfortunately, nothing stood out.

I was able to spot the elven community before we were even close. The place was lit up with magic like a Christmas tree. Magic glowed in every color, nearly blinding me as we approached. “Holy crap. Why were we even worried about this place?”

“That bad?” Morgana asked.

“Thousands of wards. Even if a couple rogue warlocks were causing trouble here, I wouldn’t be able to sift through all of this and find what they were doing.” What sort of idiots would try to attack this? It would be like thinking it was a bright idea to go hold up a gun store.

I pushed past all the bright lights and got a good look at the community. It was beautiful, like a slice of utopia. The area was filled with white picket fences and open yards, broad gardens, and houses with a tendency to let vines claim at least part of their exterior walls. Enormous trees towered in the yards, with more than a few elaborate tree houses built amid their boughs.

“Okay, let’s do a lap and make sure. I’m going to make a call.” I directed Morgana, and she accommodated, slowing down and starting a lap.

Grabbing her phone, I called back the last number. “Hello, can you do me a favor?” I asked Detective Fox’s messenger.

“Sure?” She sounded hesitant.

“We are tracking the troll, and we’ve noticed a pattern the last few nights. It leads me to be concerned for an elven neighborhood next to Fairmount.” I started to read off the address, but she cut me off.

“I know the one. Sebastian lives there.”

“Good. Could you pass along a message to him or someone else in the neighborhood that can put it to use? I just want them to be on the lookout for a troll tonight. Their wards are so bright that I can’t hang around here and keep an eye out without going blind.”

“Sure…” I could hear her scratching pen on paper. “Is that all?”

“Yes. And thank you. We’ll focus on keeping the trolls away. You haven’t gotten another call yet?”

“None. And you’re welcome. It’s always nice to be appreciated.”

“Hey, you keep things running. You deserve to be appreciated. Have a nice night and call us if you hear of another incident.” I hung up after letting her say goodbye.

Morgana had slowed to a slow roll and watched me. “Are you courting another woman?”

“No. God, not every woman I meet and am kind to is a sudden romantic interest.” I kept scanning for any threats.

Morgana responded, “You know she has the hots for you.” I knew she wasn’t talking about the lady on the phone. She was talking about Kelly.

“Yes. She wants me to be her alpha, but I can’t be. I’d tear her pack apart. There’s no way I could do what was expected of me and let the girls go back home with another man, even if he was a beta.” I looked out the window as Morgana sped up, wanting a different conversation topic. “So. Where to?”

“Let’s check out the convention center.” Morgana seemed satisfied with my answer, changing the topic. “Cheer up buttercup. There are plenty of girls out there.”

I didn’t let my thoughts linger on why she seemed so focused on Kelly and my relationship. We had warlocks to find.